I met Condoleezza Rice Today
Posted under Famous People, Politics, Stanford Life on Apr 01, 2009.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Feross, what's your name?"
Condoleezza Rice gives a talk about foreign policy to my dorm at Stanford.
I met Condi today.
First of all, let me say that this is not an April Fools joke, even though today is April 1st.
Condoleezza Rice visited my dorm, Freshman-Sophomore College (or FroSoCo for short), to give a 1 hour talk about foreign policy and take our questions. She was invited to speak here by our awesome Dean, John Bravman, who is also the Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education and my Academic Advisor.
She rolled up to our dorm at 6:00pm with at least 3 security guards (yes, they all had the little secret agent ear pieces in their ears). They escorted her into our dorm’s lounge through the back patio entrance to a waiting crowd of about 90 students. Dean Bravman introduced her and everyone applauded loudly.
She started her talk with her experiences during and immediately following 9/11. She briefly mentioned the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq, glossing over these difficult and frankly not-so-fun-to-talk-about topics. She also discussed her involvement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which provides developmental assistance to developing countries.
She said of the Secretary of State position:
“It is the best job in government.”
One of her central arguments was that she — along with everyone else in the Bush administration — did the best jobs they could with the knowledge they had at the time. She also talked about how it’s difficult to judge what people will think of the Bush Administration in the long term.
As she put it:
“History’s arc is long. And, as we look back and try to judge events as they happened over the last turbulent eight years — and it’s going to be partly my job to try to do that in the book that I’m writing — I think it’s important to remember that the arc is very long.”
Who knows… maybe history will look back on Bush as one of the greatest U.S. presidents? I’m betting that they won’t. I don’t want to get too political, so I’ll leave it at that.
Overall, it was great to meet Condi. She was smart, funny, and a really nice person.
Though I don’t agree with all of her policies, she is nonetheless an extremely nice person, and I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to meet such an accomplished diplomat in person, shake her hand, and get such awesome pictures!
Condoleezza Rice visits FroSoCo.
Group photo with Condi and some other FroSoCo residents.
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12 Comments for this entry
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Feross Aboukhadijeh - Stanford, CA
Hi, this is Feross. I'm a computer science student at Stanford University (class of 2012). I'm interested in almost every aspect of CS, especially Internet technology, web development, and search engines. I like running long distances, basketball, video games (especially retro games), and shiny gadgets.
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What am I up to?
See the full stream...March 9th
"Almost surely" - This article made me laugh for some reason. I love Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_surely [FreeTheFeross]
Wasn't going to purchase MacHeist this time, but now that it includes @Tweetie 2 -- here, take my money!! [FreeTheFeross]March 8th
Kill Dash Nine -- Download the MP3!!! http://www.monzy.com/intro/killdashnine_lyrics.html [FreeTheFeross]
How to Construct an Informative Presentation - LOLz http://bit.ly/buWGTJ [FreeTheFeross]
Census: A Little Too Personal http://bit.ly/cuahfV [FreeTheFeross]March 7th
The Jobs Of Yesteryear: Obsolete Occupations : NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124251060 [FreeTheFeross]
Cartoon characters cut out of paper and put into real life. These are so cute. http://bit.ly/apoVLW [FreeTheFeross]
Slow It Down http://englishrussia.com/?p=9400 [FreeTheFeross]
12 Embarrasing Street View Shots on Google Maps http://www.uphaa.com/blog/index.php/12-embarrasing-street-view-shots-on-google-maps/ [FreeTheFeross]March 6th
Opposite of fail http://shar.es/mHglQ [FreeTheFeross]
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I support
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Meta
April 2nd, 2009 on 7:49 am
Wow Stanford is the best university in the entire world!
Hey if you see Condi again tell her her fans in Rice for President Yahoo Group still love her and we want her as president one day – hopefully 2012!
“Condoleezza Rice for President in 2012. Join this group of supporters from everywhere on the world wide web.”
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rice-for-president/
April 2nd, 2009 on 1:21 pm
Wow dude… only at Stanford, only at Stanford haha
April 2nd, 2009 on 2:03 pm
Haha Nirav. Did you know that she used to be a Stanford Provost? Now she’s back on Stanford’s campus to teach some poli sci classes.
April 24th, 2009 on 6:57 am
Please….
The rehabilitation of Condaleezza Rice begins complete with $2.5 million tell-all book contracts in her back pocket and “glossing over these difficult and frankly not-so-fun-to-talk-about topics” in her remarks.
And her story about the “history arc being long” and “she — along with everyone else in the Bush administration — did the best jobs they could with the knowledge they had at the time.”
How quickly do we forget that this is the same Rice that became the mouth-piece for “we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud” lies that got us into Iraq; she who as national security adviser approved the greatest attacks of American citizen’s rights to privacy with monstrous wiretaps without warrants. This woman lied then, and she isn’t going to start telling the truth now… (just read the New York Times article today) about how she personally approved water-boarding of Arab prisoners… (she neglected to mention that in her testimony in front of Congress.)
Evil sometimes has a pretty face… don’t let it fool you.
If we are to protect American and the freedoms we take for granted, we’d better get a little more critical in our thinking, and not just be won over by her bright red smile.
Markus
August 25th, 2009 on 12:29 am
Markus seriously? Can you explain to me how those wiretaps were the greatest threat to the privacy of Americans when they were aimed at foreigners? And as far as the “lies” that got us into Iraq what would you expect Bush to do when his CIA director, George Tenet, tells him that we know where Saddam’s WMD’s are it’s a slam dunk? And she allowed waterboarding of people like Khalid Sheik Mohammed so friggin what? After what they did to Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl that year I’m sure a little water in the face is nothing in comparison to getting your friggin head chopped off and having the footage displayed on Al Jazeera tv.
April 30th, 2009 on 6:06 pm
Feross you’ve done an excellent job with your site. I’m very proud of your accomplishments. Wow, you actually met Condolezza Rice!
May 1st, 2009 on 9:09 am
Feross I’m very Proud of what you have done. Keep up the good work. Love you lots
May 19th, 2009 on 6:24 pm
Feross Congrats! Imagine Condi for President (2012)and Newt Gingrich as her VP! Talk about a ticket to run against Obama!
August 25th, 2009 on 4:37 am
Hello Taiyon,
The German poet Martin Niemoller (a World War I German U-boat captain turned pastor) wrote the Poem ‘First They Came’ in Nazi Germany in the 1930s.
First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.
Allow me to quote various folks on the Internet commenting on this poem
“Unfortunately, the relevance of this poem is as true today as it was in Germany in the 1930’s. One only has to reflect on the “ethnic cleansing” which was taking place in the former Yugoslavia, the genocide in Rwanda, and the current situation in the Darfur region of the Sudan.”
“… this poem should be required reading for all school students in all countries. We enjoy our freedom today because of happenings in the past, but we are just a dictator’s nod from losing everything.”
“First They Came should stand as a stern warning against complacency. If one person is discriminated against, we all suffer from that discrimination, If one person’s liberties and rights are circumscribed, no one’s liberties and rights are safe from the same action. It is up to each of us to realize that we are all just a whim away from being deprived of all these things we take for granted.”
“The idea is simple: we are all connected. The phrase, “never again” has been in place since the Holocaust of WWII was revealed to the world. Yet, genocide still takes place. Yet, the poor are still with us. Yet, corrupt governments are still in place. Who speaks? Who stands? Who gives voice?
This poem is still relevant today. It is a wonderful piece to challenge complacent behaviors on the part of society, and on the part of individuals.”
Taiyon, the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots. Dictators and dictatorial regimes rarely look like what they really are until it is too late. Bush, Cheney, and the apologists for them like Condoleezza Rice represented the greatest attack on American values and American democracy since the Declaration of Independence. It is a credit to the strength of our system and to the good sense of the American populace that they, unlike Hitler and the Nazis, were unable to take us all the way to disaster.
Think about it!
August 27th, 2009 on 2:47 am
You took the words right out of my mouth. Keep up the good fight!
December 1st, 2009 on 7:41 pm
I want to speak with my hero, Condi Rice. I am currenlty working on my Masters in Higher Ed. am a non=traditinal student and have grandchildren.
My request for Christmas was a book signed to me from Condoleezza Rice. I am completing my graduate paper on Dr. Rice, and she is a role model and her character above par. To the young ladies out there that need a role model. Delve into the life of Condi,
it will give you a new prespective on your life, and hope for the future.
THanks,
Bree
December 3rd, 2009 on 6:19 pm
Hah! Condi – a role model? Character above par? Are we talking about the same Condi?